Top 100 Quotes About Debate
#1. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient's reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result?
C.S. Lewis
#2. For the poor the whole world is a self-constituted critic; your smallest action is open to debate. No secret place of your soul is safe from invasion.
Alice Foote MacDougall
#3. The essential role of the environment is still marginal in discussions about poverty. While we continue to debate these initiatives, environmental degradation, including the loss of biodiversity and topsoil, accelerates, causing development efforts to falter.
Wangari Maathai
#4. I want to commend the [Federalist] Society for bringing together the best minds from right, left, and center to debate the most pressing legal issues of the day.
Samuel Alito
#5. Political debate is more interested in manipulating the truth, than finding the truth.
George Soros
#6. It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle.
Tom DeLay
#7. The right is absolute ... government has no authority to forbid me from owning a firearm ... the debate is not about guns. It is about freedom.
Tom McClintock
#8. When I listen to the complaints that follow just about every presidential debate, I'm reminded of the well-worn joke about the Jewish mother who buys her son two shirts. When he shows up at dinner wearing one, she says: 'What's the matter? You didn't like the other one?'
Jeff Greenfield
#9. The key to holding a logical argument or debate is to allow oneself to understand the other person's argument no matter how divergent their views may seem.
Auliq Ice
#10. The media love coarse debate because coarse debate drives ratings and ratings generate profits. Unless the TV producer happens to be William Shakespeare, an argument is more interesting than a soliloquy - and there will never be a shortage of people willing to argue on TV.
John Sununu
#11. Germany, because of the fact and the perception of a special relationship with Russia, is the only one who can influence Russian debate. Russians also believe that Germans understand them best because they've been through a big war and know what humiliation means.
Ivan Krastev
#12. In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.
William Penn
#14. I will conduct a respectful debate. Now, it will be dispirited
it will be spirited
because there are stark differences. I am a proud conservative, liberal Republica
conservative Republican ... Hello? Easy there.
John McCain
#15. While people are free to draw different conclusions from the facts, there should be no debate over whether the American public is entitled to have all of the facts.
Trey Gowdy
#16. I'm always interested to see what films are made of books. I kind of don't participate as a filmgoer in any kind of debate about what's better, the book or the movie. So I think it's interesting when people want to do it.
Daniel Handler
#17. Home after midnight from a debate on the wording of a minor municipal bylaw on bottle recycling, he felt like he was a pin in the hinge of power.
Annie Proulx
#19. Religion enabled society to organise itself to debate goodness, just as Greek drama had once done.
Edward Bond
#20. The Amish communities of Pennsylvania, despite the retro image of horse-drawn buggies and straw hats, have long been engaged in a productive debate about the consequences of technology.
Howard Rheingold
#21. Let no one ever think for a moment that national debate means national division.
Lyndon B. Johnson
#22. There are plenty of dates that are dead nights that you could do. There are plenty evenings that are dead nights that you could have the debates in.
Donald Trump
#23. Having a debate with a modern Christian is like punching a sponge.
Richard Dawkins
#24. Donald Trump lied about criticizing Mark Zuckerberg.Ben Carson lied about Mannatech.Carli Fiorina lied about the size of the tax code.Marco Rubio flatly refused to answer a question ("discredited attacks from Democrats") that I guess he didn't think he could just lie about. This is quite a debate.
Kevin Drum
#25. It is not possible to debate the balance between privacy and security, including the rights and wrongs of intrusive powers, without also understanding the threats.
Theresa May
#26. Mention the name George W. Bush in mixed company, and you're likely to spark a lot of debate and emotion - hot and cold, good and bad. Not a lot of neutral reaction. He was elected in the most controversial contest in American electoral history and governed during one of the most tumultuous decades.
Mark McKinnon
#27. I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job.
Margaret Thatcher
#28. The debate over troop levels will rage for years; it is ... beside the point.
Rich Lowry
#29. Another example of the educational inequality is the current debate over publicly financed school vouchers which will provide educational opportunities to a privileged handful, but deprive public schools of desperately needed resources.
Bobby Scott
#30. Arguing with a lawyer is not the hardest thing in the world; not arguing is.
Raheel Farooq
#31. A presidential debate is a job interview. And voters look for certain traits in people applying to be president.
Ron Fournier
#32. When I am in the Scottish Parliament chamber, I often feel the need to sit for the entire debate. It's only courteous to listen to what everyone has to say, although I often find myself desperate to say something but too scared to stand up in case I regret it.
Margo MacDonald
#33. Nations need to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, and India's tradition of dissent and democratic debate is a positive aspect.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
#34. ... I think that childfree by choice is the new gay. We're the new disenfranchised group. People think we're irresponsible, immoral sluts and that our lifestyle is up for debate.
Jen Kirkman
#35. Debate is an attempt to cling to the illusion of control provided by a point of view designed to keep the ego in place; dialogue is an attempt to dance with the unknown at the risk of losing what we think we know.
Oli Anderson
#36. When you are interviewing someone, you have a chance to follow up, to press, to dig in. In a debate there's 30 seconds for the other guy, too. And the goal is to get them to engage with each other, not to engage you necessarily.
Gwen Ifill
#37. A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.
Dean Koontz
#38. Cop-out excuses and catch-phrase dismissals can only work so long before the holes in the religious argument cannot be ignored any longer.
Steve Dustcircle
#39. Most of the homeschooled children I know have about the same amount of after-school peer time as the rest of the population but, obviously, without that school day together, they do spend less time with their peers. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is still open to debate.
Quinn Cummings
#40. Coloron often pondered how a race, in which the stupid seemed more inclined to breed, had managed to come this far, and why human intelligence persisted - a discussion point in the nature vs nurture debate which had not died in half a millennium.
Neal Asher
#41. Let me announce this to the American people tonight one of the best things about this debate, as a Democrat from Massachusetts, I have proposed eliminating, getting rid of the alternative minimum tax.
Richard Neal
#42. You're arguing in a circle," I said. "In a spiral," said Lamiel, "which is the best way to argue.
Harry Blamires
#43. Humans are not as unsophisticated as mulch wrigglers, they can see the writing on the wall. Is it any surprise, that among the ones who look outward, the real debate is not over whether to run, but over how far and how fast?
Charles Stross
#44. So I'd be quite happy to have a three-hour Lincoln-Douglas-style debate with Barack Obama. I'd let him use a teleprompter. I'll just rely on knowledge. We'll do fine.
Newt Gingrich
#45. I think of fans like a barbershop. I want that debate.
Pitbull
#46. Philosophers can debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of life.
Max Lucado
#47. We can spend billions of dollars bailing out a fiscally irresponsible nation that doesn't want to work hard or be financially intelligent, but to propose that same amount to ensure the survival of our species is actually up for debate?
Bill Hargenrader
#48. Whenever people are being intellectually dishonest in debate, it is an implicit concession they have lost the fight
Barney Frank
#49. The inerrancy debate is based on the belief that the Bible is the word of God, that the Bible is true because God made it and gave it to us as a guide to truth. But that's not what the Bible says.
Doug Pagitt
#50. I don't really feel like I have to have a debate with my husband over issues.
Laura Bush
#51. Ending up in the right place in this debate requires starting in the right place. The right place to start is the proper discrimination of what judges are supposed to do, and the rest of the process should reflect this judicial job description.
Orrin Hatch
#52. Nowledge which ... transcends the bounds, the prejudices and prejudgements of any one society and culture is not an illusion but, on the contrary, a glorious and luminous reality. Just how it was achieved remains subject to debate.
Ernest Gellner
#53. I do think it is very important that the religious communities do try to bring their teachings and their insights to bear on the stem cell debate and on the debate about genetic engineering.
Michael Sandel
#54. There needs to be debates, like we're going through. There needs to be townhall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is a huge country.
George W. Bush
#55. Do not be intimidated by a smart person. It is easier to debate a smart person than to argue with an idiot.
Randall Dale Adams
#56. I am to cover the philosophical side of the debate and so far my only thought is that reading keeps you from going gaga.
Mary Ann Shaffer
#58. There is a heated debate in Turkey these days over whether the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is furthering democracy or rolling it back.
Mustafa Akyol
#59. Now a great debate has been born. The thesis is Democratic Socialism. The antithesis is free-market capitalism. The Obama Democrats have posed the challenge. It is now up to the Republicans to pick it up and fight along these lines.
Dick Morris
#60. I believe I can do it, but one of the reasons I don't really get into the debate is people keep talking about a black James Bond: how a black man should play him.
Colin Salmon
#61. Whether 'Avatar' is racist is a matter for debate. Regardless of where you come down on that question, it's undeniable that the film - like alien apartheid flick 'District 9', released earlier this year - is emphatically a fantasy about race.
Annalee Newitz
#62. True words are not fancy. Fancy words are not true. The good do not debate. Debaters are not good.
Lao-Tzu
#63. I am no longer 'trying to dig up evidence to prove' vaccines cause autism. There is already abundant evidence. This debate is not scientific but is political
David Ayoub
#64. With the publication of this book we, as non-Jews, are doing our small part to stand up for the truth. So let us state unequivocally here and now: the Holocaust happened EXACTLY as per the history books. Period. Fact. No debate whatsoever.
James Morcan
#65. You've got to work things out in the cloakroom, and when you've got them worked out, you can debate a little before you vote.
Lyndon B. Johnson
#66. Dick Durbin's a worthy opponent on any debate. He's very intelligent, quick. Knows his facts and puts them forward well.
Sam Brownback
#67. Much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science.
James Inhofe
#68. Putting it in plain terms, the general public must be reduced to its traditional apathy and obedience, and driven from the arena of political debate and action, if democracy is to survive.
Noam Chomsky
#69. I want there to be an open and positive debate about the path the country will now take. Whatever the verdict of that debate I will respect it.
Michael Gove
#70. In fact, the more each person can remove his or her ego from the discussion and focus on the subject matter, the more fruitful the conversation will be for all involved.
Matthew Kelly
#71. It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.
Joseph Joubert
#72. I say we have no time for debate. Indeed, we have no need for it, since the decision has been made for us. We must fight. There is no other path!
Kaoru Kurimoto
#73. At the debate, Donald Trump backed off of his health care position for 20 years. For 20 years, he has agreed with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on socialized medicine, saying Obamacare doesn't go far enough. He wants the government to pay for everyone's health care and to control it.
Ted Cruz
#74. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher did more to liberate people by defeating the Soviet Union and freeing eastern Europe than the Obamas, the Clintons, and Kerrys of this world ever have. They were all on the wrong side of that debate.
Rush Limbaugh
#75. Political debate: when charlatans come together to discuss their principles.
Bauvard
#76. What we have to do ... is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.
Hillary Clinton
#77. I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it.
Michel De Montaigne
#78. You could not fence with an antagonist who met rapier thrust with blow of battle axe.
L.M. Montgomery
#79. Jeb Bush brought it up at the debate and he was doing it very well, and all of a sudden, I don't know what happened, but he got shut down.
Donald Trump
#80. To leave a man's ego bigger, retweet him. To leave his faculty of reasoning better, challenge his tweet.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
#81. Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think?
Peter Hitchens
#82. Instead of this fruitless debate about having it all, men and women should focus on what make us happy. Instead of comparing our lives with people we don't know who are making sacrifices we don't see, we should try to find the right balance between home and work life.
LZ Granderson
#83. It has to be simple, but then you deliver them a principle: The simple truth is, as a matter of principle, we cannot spend more than we take in. Something - that changes the tone of the debate.
Frank Luntz
#84. Whoever in debate quotes authority uses not intellect, but memory.
Leonardo Da Vinci
#85. The national debate on health-care reform wildly misses the mark, with Democrats and Republicans alike arguing about who's going to pay rather than about what would actually make people healthy.
T. Colin Campbell
#86. It's too hard to present an opinion on something that's not true to who you are. It's much easier to base opinions and debates off of fact and your true heart on things. To me that just comes quite naturally, and it's also about being open to what the debate is about and hearing the other side.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
#87. During the summer of 2009, the debate on health care reform was emotional and intense. At its best, it represented the free exchange of ideas that makes this country great. At its worst, it generated death threats and acts of violence.
Chellie Pingree
#88. I can't wait to see the debate between Ryan and Joe Biden. Biden is said to be already trying out different strategies. So far the one that Obama likes is where Biden pretends to have food poisoning and they cancel the debate.
Craig Ferguson
#89. Things got said, the kinds of embarrassing things that don't go away. Tempers ran high. My paternal grandfather's teak desk required a new panel, which never quite matched the others. Intellectual debate can be very hard on furniture.
Nancy Kress
#90. Intelligent women make the mistake of assuming that if they hold a higher degree, they can hold their own in a political debate, and they have a good understanding of mid-caps
Sherry Argov
#91. A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.
Nelson Mandela
#92. We should not use special budget procedures to jam through legislation to drill in the Arctic Refuge. This topic is too important to the public to address it in such a back-door manner. We should be having a full, open discussion of the issue during an energy debate.
Russ Feingold
#94. The usual duty of the "intellectual" is to argue for complexity and to insist that phenomena in the world of ideas should not be sloganized or reduced to easily repeated formulae.
Christopher Hitchens
#95. A pair of freshmen rushed by our door talking about who would make a better Gallagher Girl: Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Veronica Mars (a debate made much more interesting by the fact it was taking place in Farsi).
Ally Carter
#96. I realize that definitions spark controversy and disagreement, but I'm okay with that. I'd rather we debate the meaning of words that are important to us than not discuss them at all.
Brene Brown
#97. Ultimately if you're a journalist, one day you're writing about figure skating, one day a political debate. I loved that about reporting. I like throwing my energies into various corners of the world.
Jess Walter
#98. He [Louis Brandeis] would have not had any patience with that great debate which you're right to kind of signal between Justice Scalia and Justice Alito about do you need a physical trespass into the home or onto the carriage in order to trigger the values of the Fourth Amendment.
Jeffrey Rosen
#99. I've won every debate I've had with an atheist, and never converted even a single one.
Francis Joseph Sheed
#100. For the sake of democracy, vigorous, civilized debate must replace the law of silence that political correctness has imposed.
Anthony Daniels
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